DQ9 General FAQ 2.0 (Please read before posting.
Thank you!)

Hello everyone, and welcome to the Dragon Quest IX Forum at GameFAQs. I am your humble host and writer of the DQ9 General FAQ, which has been prepared to hopefully help answer as many basic and rudimentary questions as is possible. I hope you all have a great time playing Dragon Quest IX, and I hope this General FAQ helps. Good luck, and enjoy!

Dragon Quest is the longest running, and arguably the first Console RPG in Japan. The game is a phenominal success, and the system it spawned has played a part in the development of many many JRPG's, including Final Fantasy. Its' roots are in Wizardry and Ultima. Dragon Quest is Published by Square-Enix, and prior to that, Enix of Japan. The game is the brainchild of Yuji Hori, who is both the series creator, and the scenario writer. Akira Toriyama, the graphic designer, and Koichi Sugiyama, the music maestro, have also been with DQ since the first game. The three of them are some of the most respected and well known figures in Japan, and within the Japanese (and between some US and European) game companies and game designers. Akira Toriyama is of course popular also for the Dragon Ball manga, and tv series that followed. Koichi Sugiyama is the first classically trained composer to work in the gaming industry.

Dragon Quest is a series that does not need to be played end to end, as each game stands alone. While the first three make up a trilogy, any player can feel right at home playing just one of the games.

The series is infinitely popular in Japan, selling more than any other RPG series there, sans Pokemon. It is popular for many reasons, some of them being the nostalgic feeling one plays that connects each game, the quality of music and how each song from any one game connects like a beautiful symphony both within that game and between all other Dragon Quests. Despite the nostalgia, each DQ definitely holds their own, and each brings something new to the table.

2) What is Dragon Quest IX?

Dragon Quest IX is the ninth installment to this fabulous RPG series. It is the first DQ main and original game to see a handheld release, and the first to offer multiplay features. Dragon Quest IX remains a single player experience at the core, with a main quest lasting between 30 to 60 hours, depending on playstyle, number of random maps found, quests finished, and choices in party development.

The game boasts a lot of features, from a fully customizable Hero and party. Allowing players to choose from a variety of body styles, hair styles, faces, skin tons, and sizes, to allowing the player to choose their own vocations, and how they wish to progress them.

---www.backloggery.com/sleeper_hits - Where the good games are remembered.The cake is not a lie, the pie stole it.

The world of Dragon Quest IX works similar to DQVIII and FFXII, where each area is divided into sections that interconnect, and the party moves from one section to another it smoothly integrates all the data from the new area, to make it seem like a seemless world.

There are NO random battles in dungeons and on the overworld map in Dragon Quest IX. All enemies can be seen and most can be avoided. However, this does not hold true for travel by Ship, where all encounters are random.

Battles take place on the overworld map, and in dungeon, by moving up to an enemy and touching them. However, while traveling by Ship, battles are randomly generated. Since overworld and dungeon enemies can be seen, they can also be avoided, so unnecessary and unwanted battles can be skipped as the party traipses through to whatever goal the player has in mind: finding a chest, defeating a boss, getting back to town, randomly skipping through to see what is there.

Battle basics are explained further in, however, progression of a character occurs with leveling up, and each level is tied to the vocation that character is. On leveling up, skill points are earned, which too will be covered further in.

Dragon Quest IX also introduces The Coup De Grace system, which is a limit-break like system where each vocation has a super attack, or useful skill that will trigger when their HP is low.

There are quests to take up, random maps to find, items to create in the alchemy pot, lots of gear designed for themes, and gear designed for domination. Add in the vocation sytem, skill selection, and being able to design a party of multiple styles and makeup, and there is definitely a lot to do...then add in multiplayer, tag mode, and the Wifi quests and shop...

Decisions, decisions..

2.1) Storyline basics and key events

I will not go into detail on the story, to avoid ruining anything, but suffice to say this Dragon Quest plays out its stories in small pieces. Each town visited has its' own individual story to tell. Each one is both very separate, and invidual to that town, while still connecting to the overarching storyline. Like all Dragon Quests before it, every story cuts to the heart of the matter. No excess character drama, no excess meaty npc drama. That isn't to say these stories are not deep. Many of them are, and deal with very profound themes, but are treated with both a dose of humour and written, again, with only the basic fundamentals of their respective storylines in mind.

This keeps the game flowing faster, so there is more time to adventure, explore, hunt, level, etc. It might seem like it lacks a story, and some people may say it does, but I account for their lack of attention and desire for character drama with very complex nuances. Once you understand and see what story there is, it becomes easier to appreciate the subtleties spread here and there.

Also, remember to check back, many storylines are not 100% finished after saving the day. Often other things occur while you're gone. Sometimes it may take awhile, sometimes there are several episodes of slight changes and growth, and other times other benefits can come about. Just make sure to return to old towns after a few major story events to see if anything has changed.

---www.backloggery.com/sleeper_hits - Where the good games are remembered.The cake is not a lie, the pie stole it.

Key Events (Semi-spoilers, but these are important to note and often asked on the forums, note there are NO story related spoilers):

1) Quester's Rest is unlocked after getting to Stornway. Enter the inn, talk to everyone, leave, and re-enter to make new party members, check the guest list, or sleep.

2) The Krak Pot is unlocked after the events in Brigadoom. Located in the Quester's Rest next to Erinn.

3) Tag Mode and Multiplay are unlocked after the events in Coffinwell.

4) Sellma is unlocked after having access to Alltrade's Abbey.

5) Class change is available after the events in Alltrade's Abbey. Talk to the Abbot to change.

3) Why is everyone in the party is silent.

Dragon Quest IX boasts the ability to make a party of the players choice. From looks to vocations (classes), to skills, to equipment and style. There is just so much to do to personalize your party to your liking. Do you want to make your favourite band? How about your favourite tv show, or characters from another video game? What about your family? Whomever, and whatever you wish to do to build your own party, the choices are yours.

As a result, it is impossible to coordinate a party chat system, as there is no way to predict what types of people you, the player, have in mind to create. It is a tradeoff, but it is still a pretty awesome tradeoff. You can't make a proper Goku in most other RPGs, or even your girlfriend/boyfriend, but you can here. Of course, there are many limitations, but the number of options do allow for some interesting looking characters.

4) Alltrades Abbey

When the game begins, the Hero, you, starts out as a Minstrel vocation. After an hour or so, the game will take the party to battle for Alltrades Abbey. Once freed, any party member can have their vocation changed. At first, only 6 vocations are available, but later, quests will be found which, if completed, will allow access to up to 6 more vocations.

Once the Alltrades Abbey is saved, any new character made at Quester's Rest can be given a vocation of choice from those that have been unlocked.

Vocations have 3 Weapon Skill trees, either Fisticuffs or Shield Skill trees, and one Vocation Skill tree, for a total of 5 skill trees per vocation to place points in.

All Vocation specific skills carry over between vocations. This includes stat increases. So whatever skills are gained by putting 20 points into the Mage Skill tree will carry over to all other vocations, and all stat bonuses are carried over as well.

---www.backloggery.com/sleeper_hits - Where the good games are remembered.The cake is not a lie, the pie stole it.

All Weapon, Shield, and Fisticuff skills carry over to vocations that carry them. So if 20 points are put into Sword, all vocations that naturally use Swords can use the skills granted at 20 points, but all other vocations cannot. However, when maxed, at 100 points, that weapon and those skills can be used by ALL vocations.

NOTE: Weapon attack bonuses stack (unlike in DQVIII). So if your bonus is +10 and +20, your total is +30. Max for every weapon is +60 attack. Max bonus for Fisticuffs is +100 attack. This means a huge advantage with any one weapon if that weapon tree is maxed (early on this will somewhat break the game, but damage done evens out towards the end, and for the post-game and mid to high-end grottos).

All magic learned is specific to the vocation that learns it, and is tied to vocation level. Magic does NOT carry from one vocation to another, and is a helpful tool in deciding a party.

NOTE: All Vocations have fixed stat gains, however, given stat bonuses from vocation skills carry over, there are all sorts of ways to augment stats to your liking. Just know that, while seeds add to stats, those augmentations do NOT carry between vocations (mentioned in the stats section below).

---www.backloggery.com/sleeper_hits - Where the good games are remembered.The cake is not a lie, the pie stole it.

!!!The following is extremely important!!!NOTE: Vocations cannot be changed on the fly until much later in the game, when the Sage quest is completed, and a character learns the second skill Jack's Knack(10 skill points) from the Sage's skill tree. Until that time, in order to change vocations the party must be returned to Alltrades Abbey (cast Zoom and choose the Abbey), and speak again to the Abbot.

4.1) Basic Vocations

The first vocations available are Warrior, Martial Artist, Thief, Mage, Priest, and Minstrel. Minstrel is the default vocation for the Hero - this cannot be changed, but luckily Alltrades Abbey can be unlocked relatively early.

Note: All challenge quests give a vocation exclusive gear reward for the first, and a scroll reward for the second.

4.2) "Advanced" Vocations

There are 6 advanced vocations, and unlike the basic vocations, these are gained by finishing specific quests. However, being advanced does not mean better. There are some aspects of the basic vocations that are better than the Advanced Vocations. So in essence, these are more like "extra" vocations than "better" vocations. However, it is important to note that between the Gladiator, Paladin, and Ranger, are the most specialized stat trees for base damage, tanking, and critical attacks. Armamentalists, Sage, and Luminary are very versatile in their stats to allow multiple build types, and note that Armamentalists are almost pure support/buff due to their spell tree.

The following is in order of quest appearance, "Name of Vocation"(quest #), then Vocation skills:

Gladiator(103): Axe, Hammer, Sword, Fisticuffs, Guts

Paladin(106): Hammer, Spear, Wand, Shield, Virtue

Armamentalist(109): Bow, Sword, Wand, Shield, Fource

Ranger(112): Boomerang, Axe, Bow, Fisticuffs, Ruggedness

Sage(115): Wand, Bow, Boomerang, Shield, Enlightenment

Luminary(118): Fan, Whip, Boomerang, Shield, Je Ne Sais Quoi

---www.backloggery.com/sleeper_hits - Where the good games are remembered.The cake is not a lie, the pie stole it.

Note: All secondary vocations get their vocation specific quests from the same person who gives their respective unlock quests.

Note2: Do not expect to unlock Luminary before the post game, as the quest is not available until just before the end, and the quest requires an enemy only found in high level grottos).

4.3) Stats and vocation switching.

Stats are fixed in this game, but can be augmented through both seeds and through leveling vocation skill sets, all of which contain different status bonuses. This makes it easier to level up a new vocation from level 1, especially as the game progresses (gear will also be superior, which helps as well).

Switching is highly recommended, though switching too often can result in a very easy game. The main reasons are to gain extra skill points, or to try different vocation combinations. There are some things that carry over, and some that do not. I will list all overall bonuses to stats from vocation skill trees.

What carries over to all vocations: 1) All vocation skills (Enlightenment, Guts, Spellcraft, Litheness, etc.) including all stat bonuses learned. All status bonuses also stack, between vocations and within each vocation skill tree. So if you have a 55 points into Thief, and 100 into Minstrel, your Deftness is +50, +20, and +40 - so +110 overall, and this carries to every single vocation. 2) All unspent skill points.3) All weapon skills with 100 points, giving them the Omnivocational skill - meaning all vocations can use them.4) Skill Seed bonuses are the only seed bonuses that carry between vocations.

What does NOT carry over:1) Weapons, Fisticuffs, and Shield skillsets that are not maxed do not carry over to vocations that do not use them. However they do carry over to those that do use them normally. So once you have 20 points into Shield, all vocations that can naturally use Shields have access to the skills and bonuses at 20 skill points.2) Stat Seed bonuses do NOT carry over. They stick with the vocation you gave them to, and this carries through Revocation. So if you have +100 HP from seeds in Gladiator, it will stay with that Gladiator on that character, and if you max to 99 and revocate that character, it will carry over, so you start level 1 with a really strong Gladiator.

---www.backloggery.com/sleeper_hits - Where the good games are remembered.The cake is not a lie, the pie stole it.

So at level 48, you get 132 skill points in a vocation, and at level 99, you max with 200 total in any single vocation. These stack per vocation (to a max of 999 unspent points, so make sure not to go over that limit).

When leveling up Skill points are granted to the character. They can be saved, or spent as the player sees fit. These are tied to the character, and not to the vocation, so if that character changes vocation, all skill points existing from the previous vocations still exist after switching to another vocation. This allows customization of any character by picking and choosing what skills to level, what vocations will be the main, and allowing the player to use other vocations for the sole purpose of leveling to farm/collect skill points to spend on the vocations of choice.

So if the player decides the Hero should be a Mage, and wants to max Wand weapons early, that player can switch to any of the other jobs, level them up a bit, collect those skill points, switch back to Mage, and spend them all on Wand skills.

The maximum number of points is 200, gained by level 99 in each vocation. There are a total of 12 vocations, so 2400 points to spend on 26 total skills. However, it is more practical to think of it like this. By the time you reach the halfway point in the story, the likely total max amount of skill points gained is around 200-300. By the end of the story, the likely total max amount of skill points is around 400-600. All depending on how much time was spent leveling, and perhaps whether you have a good leveling map. So choose your skills and levels wisely. It's very likely you'll have accumulated fewer than 400 total skill points by the final boss.

However, that is in part, what the post game is all about, the ability to maximize your characters, but until then, choose wisely how you spend those skill points. You can pick vocation skill sets to level for status gains, or maybe specific skills. Max out weapons to have a variety...all up to you.

Once a vocation reaches level 99, that vocation can be reverted to 1, but all the skill points already gained and allocated remain, the character just returns to level 1 so they may gain more skill points all over again. This process is called Revocation and to my knowledge, is only accessible in the post-game. You can only revocate a maximum number of 9 times per vocation, per character.

NOTE: the first time any person revocates, an accessory is earned. However, this accessory can only be gained once per vocation, per save, so only one of each accessory can get gained. These accessories are by far the best available in terms of stat bonuses, and cannot be used in any alchemy or sold.

6) Magic and how it works.

Magic breaks down first into type. Damage, Healing, Support (buff/debuff), and Field. From there it breaks into families. From there each new spell of each family adds more damage, healing, better buffing or debuffing, and in some lines, increases area of effect. Like the Crack family starts as single target, then group, and ends attacking everything.

---www.backloggery.com/sleeper_hits - Where the good games are remembered.The cake is not a lie, the pie stole it.

All spells cost MP, or Magic/Mana points. The right side is the maximum MP, and the left is the current. So long as the current is high enough to cast a particular spell, that spell can be used. All healing spells, and all field spells can be used in town, the field, and any dungeon outside of battle. All spells except Field spells can be used in battle.

Magic, as stated before, is specific to each vocation that learns it, and does not carry forward. Magic can also become expensive, so using skill points wisely to learn MP recovery, or spell cost reduction skills is necessary to keep the party going through tough dungeons.

All damage spells have damage ranges that are affected by Wisdom and possibly level. The higher the wisdom stat, and the higher the level, the greater the range (up to a currently unknown maximum) of damage each spell is capable of dishing to an enemy.

Learning the effectiveness, and when to use what support spells, is vital to winning, particularly against certain opponents. Though note that many bosses are immune to most status effect spells, and resistant to both the others and most damage spells.

7) Combat Basics

When battle is started, the round begins and all character action is input, going down the line. Once the final character's action is chosen, the action commences. Once everyone has had a turn (some enemies can take more than one turn, particularly bosses), the next turn begins again with the input screen.

All characters, save the Hero, can be given an AI setting. This can be very useful to speed up battles, however, be careful, as AI settings are not 100% fullproof, and while resistances will be taken into account, the most useful skills and spells are not always chosen, nor is healing always done when it should be (or sometimes far more often than it should). So it is best to turn off AI and fight manually for boss fights.

Spells and Skills learned offer different variables that affect the outcome of battle. Choose carefully, and keep watch on both HP and MP. If HP falls to 0, that character is out of the picture. Cast Zing/Kazing, or use an Yggdrasil Leaf to revive them.

All vocations have special limit break attacks, called The Coup De Grace skills. How they trigger is open to speculation, as it seems to happen randomly. Some weapons, particularly from the Fan group, help increase the chance of a Coup De Grace. If multiple Coup De Grace's trigger, every class has at least one class they can combine with to form a Co-op de Grace: Warrior/Ranger, Minstrel/Luminary, Martial Artist/Gladiator, Armamentalist/Thief, Paladin/Priest, and Mage/Sage. These skills can be anywhere from life saving, to adding extra experience, to granting super ability. Coup De Grace's can easily turn a rough battle around.

---www.backloggery.com/sleeper_hits - Where the good games are remembered.The cake is not a lie, the pie stole it.

A few things to note about victory. Once done, Experience, Gold, and possible item drops are granted (one item drop allowed per enemy, and even if a particular item was stolen, that same enemy can drop the item again). Gold is tallied to your overall gold. Experience is divided evenly amongst the party members, is tallied to the exp of the vocations each character in the active party is currently using. When a certain amount is gained, that class levels up.

NOTE:There is a penalty for exp that works like this - highest level always gets 100% of the exp, but for any level below that, there is a penalty to the exp that character gets. Exactly what that penalty is, I do not know, but it seems around a -1 or 2% per level below the highest leveled person in the party, and after a certain range, say 10, it seems to drop by a lot more. I have not thoroughly explored or tested this, so I do not know.

7.1) Stacking damage

This is the first Dragon Quest to allow stacking damage through more than just weapon + skill. This time, there is the Combo System. Combos are very simple and very useful. Combo chains max at 4x (four hits), with bonuses starting on the second hit, and continueing to the final hit: 1.2x, then 1.5x, and finally 2x damage respectively.

Combos work with magic and skills as well as physical attacks. There is also a nice bonus when finishing an enemy on the third hit, and attacking another enemy; 1.2x damage on that other enemy.

Combos can only be triggered under the following conditions:

1)All attacks are the same (so either everyone uses Attack, or all use the same skill, or all use the same spell - or spell tree actually, spells in the same family will chain into a combo).2)All attacks are done in sequence, one after another, without any break in the chain (either from a different action taken by another party member, or an action taken by taken by an enemy).3)Finally, all actions are used on the exact same enemy (when comboing with multi-hit weapons, the first to be hit by a multi-hit weapon is the only enemy that can be comboed).

Combos do NOT stack with multi-hit attacks. So the Falcon Sword, the Falcon Slash, Multithrust, etc. will not get a combo per each attack. Instead it counts the full sequence of attacks as a single combo hit. So if 3 characters used Falcon Slash, it would be 6 total hits, but a combo chain of only 3, with the final attack doing 1.5x damage in total (so each hit with the Falcon Slash does 1.5x damage).

So, if everyone uses Frizz, and everyone goes before, or after the enemy party has gone, a full combo chain will occur. First hit will do 100% damage, second will do 120%, third 150%, and fourth 200%.

Another useful tool is utilizing weapons that deal extra damage to enemies of a certain type. Like the Dragon's Bane sword and the Sword Skill, Dragon Slash. Both attacks, because they are % base, will multiply, leading to a much higher range of damage. So having some versatility in weaponry and skillsets is quite useful for taking out enemies quickly.

Note that some Class attack skills will allow augmentation by weapon traits. Like some will double attack if using the Falcon Blade, when normally they would not. Most will take on % damage properties against elements and enemy-type. So having a holy weapon, and using certain skills, those skills will get extra damage because of the holy property, against enemies that are weak to Holy. This works much the same with the Armamentalist skill set and granting weapon's an element.

---www.backloggery.com/sleeper_hits - Where the good games are remembered.The cake is not a lie, the pie stole it.

Dragon Quest IX is all about equipment. There is just a bumload of it. They is obtained through shops, off enemies, off grotto bosses, from chests, WiFi shops, and Alchemy. Equipment comes in a multitude of varieties of both weapons and armour.

Weapons: Swords, Spears, Knives, Wands, Whips, Staves, Claws, Fans, Axes, Hammers, Boomerangs, and Bows. Only Whips and Boomerangs are by nature multi-target weapons. Whips attack groups, and high-end Whips attack everything. Boomerangs attack everything. Whips and Boomerangs can get critical hits in this Dragon Quest (unlike every other), but these are only per hit, and these criticals do not count as a normal critical against metal enemies. Instead of doing massive damage, a critical against a metal enemy of any kind does a guaranteed 1 damage, and only 1 damage. All other weapons, being single target, have normal critical hits, and when landed on a metal enemy, does normal critical hit damage like they would for any other monster (so if a critical is 100, against a metal monster it is still 100 damage). This makes single target weapons preferable with normal attacks, against metal monsters.

Armour: Shields (equipable by half the classes, and equipable by all if mastered), Headgear, Body Armour, Arms, Legs, Feet, and Accessories. Accessories do not seem to show on the character, but all armour does, and there are quite a few set pieces, some from older games. Half the game of Armour is a choice between looks and damage mitigation. Some armour even grants certain abilities or functions with specific items (like Fans and certain gear). Some are female only (though there is an accessory that allows any gender to equip gear from the other gender), and some that are male only. Accessories are more for practical use, and battle augmentation of some kind, be it adding to stats or defending from specific status effects.

Armour effects are important to take into account, as some gear, though lower in defense, is far more effective than others because they have damage mitigation of some type (fire, ice, wind, lightning, dark, holy, magic), help protect from status effects, or affect battle by augmenting charm to keep enemies from attacking for a round or a few by chance (some gear combinations create a dazzle type effect that stops an enemy cold for several rounds of combat, and help make them more susceptable to theft - at least so it seems, as I've gotten a 100% theft rate every time it happens).

Shields are quite useful, and quite vital, as they can block attacks, as well as add to defense, and offer magic or breath damage mitigation. Once the skill set is mastered, all shields have an automatic +6% block rate, and can be used on any class, giving a huge advantage that can be life saving, especially in some drawn out boss fights.

9) Alchemy and the Krak Pot

After the events in Coffinwell, the Krak Pot, an Alchemy pot, is available in the Quester's Rest. Placing 3 different items, of varying type and number may result in a new item, often an improvement. All of the best equipment is made through alchemy. Many of the rarest items and alchemy ingredients are created through the Krak Pot. Unlike in DQVIII, this pot is instant, and it allows up to 9 of one item to be made at once, lending to faster creation.

Recipies are kept in the Alchenomicon, which can be accessed at will in the Battle Records menu. Once a recipe is known, it is always known, and that item can be selected directly while using the Krak Pot for convenience.

---www.backloggery.com/sleeper_hits - Where the good games are remembered.The cake is not a lie, the pie stole it.